Hindsight 20/20: Five lessons from last season’s NHL Trade Deadline

Credit: Mattias Ekholm (© James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports)

With less than two weeks until the March 8 NHL Trade Deadline, we continue to deliver at least one deadline-focused story every day on Daily Faceoff.

Today, we rewind a year to see what lessons we can glean from trades made approaching the last year’s deadline.

2024 NHL Trade Deadline Countdown: 13 days

It’s fun to react the moment a big trade happens. We’re as guilty as anyone at Daily Faceoff, cranking out Trade Grade stories within hours of any blockbuster.

But it’s just as fascinating to revisit the biggest deals once we gain perspective with a little time. If we rewind a year, what can the 2023 deadline deals tell us? Let’s explore the key takeaways.

LESSON 1: Sometimes, both teams can win a blockbuster deal

Trade: Bo Horvat to New York Islanders

We can debate for years to come whether it actually made sense for a decidedly Mid Isles team to pay up for Horvat. He helped them make the playoffs, but I argued at the time the move would doom them to more years of mediocrity, and my stance is unchanged a year later. Nevertheless, Horvat undeniably made his new team better and has rediscovered the goal-scoring touch that eluded him post-trade last year. The Canucks, meanwhile, landed prospect Aatu Raty, depth forward Anthony Beauvillier and a conditional 2023 first-round pick in the blockbuster. Only 30 days later, GM Patrik Allvin flipped the pick to the Detroit Red Wings and secured blueliner Filip Hronek, who is now in the midst of a career year patrolling Vancouver’s top pair with Quinn Hughes. See? It’s possible for both sides to fare well on a big trade.

LESSON 2: Father Time is undefeated

Trade: Patrick Kane to New York Rangers

Was Patrick Kane going to be a difference maker for the Blueshirts? They wanted to believe he would be, and Kane dismissed the severity of the hip injury he’d been playing through with the Chicago Blackhawks. The Rangers, badly needing help on the right wing, gave up multiple second-round picks (one of which would’ve become a first-rounder if they made the Eastern Conference Final) for Kane. They bought into the idea that he still had some magic. But when you acquire a 34-year-old clearly battling hip problems, chances are he’s not going to be his old Conn Smythe Trophy winning self. He amassed six goals and 18 points in 26 games in a Ranger uniform between the regular season and playoffs. He underwent hip resurfacing surgery in the offseason before signing with the Detroit Red Wings partway through this season.

LESSON 3: If you see a good fit, shoot your shot

Trade: Ivan Barbashev to Vegas Golden Knights

Barbashev had broken out with a 26-goal, 61-point season in 2021-22 with the St. Louis Blues but was struggling through 2022-23. He was a player who couldn’t quite figure out his role, a playmaker who created goal-scorer expectations with a high shooting percentage the year before, occasionally moving to center even though he struggled on draws. The Golden Knights didn’t exactly buy low, giving up a first-round prospect in Zach Dean to land Barbashev, but they saw a fit. His well-rounded skill set and physicality ended up vibing great on the first line with Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault. A few months later, Barbashev owned his second Stanley Cup ring. If you’re confident a player fits your scheme, go get him. Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon did just that.

LESSON 4: Getting a difference maker with term justifies going all-in

Trade: Mattias Ekholm to Edmonton Oilers

Sometimes teams surrender first-rounders and/or prospects for pending UFAs who end up gone in a matter of months, such as when Florida went for it on the Claude Giroux deal two years ago. But in the Oilers’ case last winter: they made the wise play to secure not just one stretch run and playoffs with rangy shutdown blueliner Mattias Ekholm, but three more seasons. That justified giving up a first-rounder, prospect Reid Schaefer and puck-moving blueliner Tyson Barrie as part of the deal. Ekholm has now played 73 games with the Oilers. During that time, with him on the ice, they’ve outscored opponents 80-47 and outchanced them 801-507 in 5-on-5 play. He turns 34 this spring, so his contract could still take on water one of these seasons, but so far, the trade has been a coup for Oilers GM Ken Holland.

LESSON 5: Even geniuses can fly too close to the sun

Trade: Tanner Jeannot to Tampa Bay Lightning

Julien BriseBois put on three-year clinic at the Trade Deadline between 2020 and 2022, securing Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow, David Savard, Brandon Hagel and Nick Paul to help the Bolts reach three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, winning the first two. In the process, BriseBois chucked around first-round picks like they were Halloween candy. He was utterly committed to win-now mode and willing to sacrifice futures to keep the good times rollin’. He set a new standard for paying up to get ‘Your Guys’ even if they’re role players. But he jumped the shark last year when he surrendered five draft picks – a first, second, third, fourth and fifth – for bruising bottom-six winger Tanner Jeannot, who had regressed after a great rookie year in Nashville the season prior. Jeannot was a non-factor in the stretch run and playoffs and hasn’t been a whole lot better this season. All empires crumble, and that ill-fated trade might be remembered a few years from now as the beginning of the end for Tampa’s dynasty.

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